With the rapid advancements in the field of printing, newly developed printing techniques are being considered in the field of postage dispensing. Heretofore, postage dispensing devices, for the most part, have used mechanical devices for the purpose of printing postage indicia upon mail pieces. In the recent past, electronic postage dispensing devices have been developed, but even these electronic devices relied upon mechanical printers that were in communication with electronic accounting components. Needless to say, such postage dispensing devices provide security for the accounting of postage, but are relatively expensive although dot matrix printers have been developed and are commercially available, such as ink jet printers and thermal printers, none is used presently as a stand alone postage dispensing device because of the lack of security.
Many publications have discussed and suggested the use of dot matrix printers in postage dispensing devices. In fact, recent changes in the postal regulations allow mailers to use ink jet printers for printing certain data on letters. As a result, it appears to be a matter of time before postal regulations are changed to allow more extensive use of dot matrix printers. Of the contemporary printing techniques available, the use of thermal printing for a postage dispensing device appears attractive and has been disclosed in a number of articles and patents. The advantages offered by thermal printing are that of low cost and reliability. One drawback to the use of a thermal printer is that a scheme for providing security must be provided; otherwise, a wrong doer could print postage indicia on mail pieces with an unauthorized printer. By unauthorized printer is meant one that does not account to the post office for postage imprinted. Clearly, it would be advantageous if one were able to provide a secure thermal printer that allows a determination as to whether there has been an accounting of postage.